More Shadow Cave Changes Coming

[TwinkTastical]

Haha this is sweet, trashy gear is now even harder to get than good gear =D Idk bout you guys, but im sticking to ao3.

[Ladylove]

Haha this is sweet, trashy gear is now even harder to get than good gear =D Idk bout you guys, but im sticking to ao3.

Yeah, but the new stuff is sellin' like hot cakes.

[Snakespeare]

Well, it seems like it is meant for other people than me. I hope there will be new content for people who can't commit to a 4+ hour game. I am more than willing to pay 20 plat per campaign for good new content for the casual player or the moderately-moneyed player. I get about an hour on the bus going to work and an hour on the bus going home.

Maybe someday I will get to see what this update is like. I'm sure it must be cool.

Can you replace the items that were given in the 100% drops with AO2 whites? It doesn't seem fair that the looters are now gazillionaires. LOL! (Please, it's a joke!)

[Echelong]

Well, it seems like it is meant for other people than me. I hope there will be new content for people who can't commit to a 4+ hour game. I am more than willing to pay 20 plat per campaign for good new content for the casual player or the moderately-moneyed player. I get about an hour on the bus going to work and an hour on the bus going home.

Maybe someday I will get to see what this update is like. I'm sure it must be cool.

Can you replace the items that were given in the 100% drops with AO2 whites? It doesn't seem fair that the looters are now gazillionaires. LOL! (Please, it's a joke!)

If you have AO campaign this is a free area. Even if you are casual you can have one day of the week to play it.

[TwinkTastical]

Yeah, but the new stuff is sellin' like hot cakes.

So are rift sets =D =D =D =D =D =D =D

[screamer]

Edit: I don't think shadow cave games should show up in the "join" list -- they should all be considered locked games and people have to invite friends if they need an extra person. That would also help the random pop-ins of unwanted guests, even if there is no host. I just think if a team is going through all this effort, they have a right to keep it a closed game.

Love this idea. Nothing worse than a camper level 31 farmer ruining your game.

[derricks2]

makes you wonder if they did it on purpose? Make the gear easy to get to get some of it in circulation, then reduce drop rate and make mobs harder. Not that its a bad idea.. but you'd think with drop rates as they are in AO3 that they'd know about how much to make them drop to be fair. Hrmmm. Sneaky

Is their any Lvl 50 content coming for people who have the best armors?? Like some achievement system or some sort of gradual, ongoing character advancement for character distinction?

[Lesrider]

Les, if the original VL game is locked, then the caves will also be locked so that only friends can join. So if you want only friends to join, just lock the VL game.

Are you sure about this?

I still stand by my original suggestion -- if they're going to purposely make it hard to get in there, the shadow caves games should not show up on the "join game" screen. Why give someone the opportunity to pop into different games just to kill the boss, then leave and pop into another one?

[Kalielle]

Maybe someday I will get to see what this update is like. I'm sure it must be cool.

That's a little how I feel right now, having just cleared VL 3 times with my friends and getting 1 shadow and 2 barrels. Clearing VL the first time was actually kind of fun. The second time, whatever. By the third run, it was just tedious, since I have already been practically living in that map ever since AO3 came out. Meanwhile, a friend had to go to work, 2 left for dinner and I have to take a break for lunch. I will definitely come back to it later, but even for someone who practically spends all day in PL like me, the time commitment does seem a bit much.

Any chance we could get a certain portal spawn at the end of VL, now that we have to clear the map? And before people say I just want things easy etc etc - it's not that. Make the new content as difficult as you like, you won't hear me complaining - but please, just let us get to it! Why force us to play over and over again a map we are bored of, just to get to the map we really want to play?

Incidentally, this would also somewhat solve the problem of people constantly searching for games in the join screen or having to stay in a game with no host, since it's not such a big deal to clear VL once to get the portal.

[Norbert]

Any chance we could get a certain portal spawn at the end of VL, now that we have to clear the map? And before people say I just want things easy etc etc - it's not that. Make the new content as difficult as you like, you won't hear me complaining - but please, just let us get to it! Why force us to play over and over again a map we are bored of, just to get to the map we really want to play?

Incidentally, this would also somewhat solve the problem of people constantly searching for games in the join screen or having to stay in a game with no host, since it's not such a big deal to clear VL once to get the portal.

I agree, this would be great. I actually like the idea to clear VL and then get the 'go to shadow caves' option instead of the portal. What would remove the exploit, but still make it reasonable to get to the caves.

I'd still like to know if you have to clear all the mobs or just the bosses in VL. Anyone know? We did one run and cleared everything, but no portal, so not very conclusive. If anyone clears bosses only and finds the portal, let us know!

[Lesrider]

We tried clearing only bosses, but nothing showed up. Then we went back and cleared all mobs (but one was left in the desert lol) and a shadow prisoner showed up in the main entrance. So I'm assuming you have to clear almost the whole board, but still no guarantee of the portal. But if you see the shadow prisoner, you know not to bother looking anymore for the portal.

[Echelong]

We tried clearing only bosses, but nothing showed up. Then we went back and cleared all mobs (but one was left in the desert lol) and a shadow prisoner showed up in the main entrance. So I'm assuming you have to clear almost the whole board, but still no guarantee of the portal. But if you see the shadow prisoner, you know not to bother looking anymore for the portal.

Thanks for the info and it cleared doubts about it. This also means no more rushing on VL which is sad. Still this also means farming more rift, void and Cosmos.

[Lesrider]

Well you could still rush, it just won't get you to the caves.
I wonder if this will start a whole other problem with people looking for rushed VL maps to clear the last few mobs and hope for a portal?

[Echelong]

Well you could still rush, it just won't get you to the caves.
I wonder if this will start a whole other problem with people looking for rushed VL maps to clear the last few mobs and hope for a portal?

yeah well whats the point of rushing if you want the portal? This is going to stop rushing VL. Its the only way to farm both areas.

[Lesrider]

yeah well whats the point of rushing if you want the portal? This is going to stop rushing VL. Its the only way to farm both areas.

Well unless they inplement some way to save your progress in the caves (like in drew's thread), I think a lot of people will still be skipping the caves and just doing VL. I know I personally don't like having to stay in-game for hours with no way to leave without losing your place in the 6-level map.

[FluffNStuff]

Well you could still rush, it just won't get you to the caves.
I wonder if this will start a whole other problem with people looking for rushed VL maps to clear the last few mobs and hope for a portal?

Not sure how this is a problem. I join post Shadow Boxing Games for an faster shot at TPaxx. Only issue is your party does not have 'boot control'.

[Lesrider]

Not sure how this is a problem. I join post Shadow Boxing Games for an faster shot at TPaxx. Only issue is your party does not have 'boot control'.

I dunno, that never bothered me. But it just doesn't seem the same when what you're going after is an entrance to an entire map, and not just a single boss.

Edit: I guess it's because anyone can create a Captive Audience game, but you can't just create a Caves game.

[FluffNStuff]

I dunno, that never bothered me. But it just doesn't seem the same when what you're going after is an entrance to an entire map, and not just a single boss.

Edit: I guess it's because anyone can create a Captive Audience game, but you can't just create a Caves game.

Most likely only gonna mean you can skip the Keeper and ~maybe~ Gurgox, since those are the only bosses the 'shadow questers' do. Find it unlikely a group that is farming all bosses is gonna just leave and not see if the portal opens.

[Lesrider]

Most likely only gonna mean you can skip the Keeper and ~maybe~ Gurgox, since those are the only bosses the 'shadow questers' do. Find it unlikely a group that is farming all bosses is gonna just leave and not see if the portal opens.

I guess it depends where they go from here. If they listen to people and make the portal always appear, then there'll be no reason to check. People will only clear all mobs if they actually want to get into the caves at that moment.

Eh I guess it doesn't make much of a difference. I was just thinking out loud lol.

[Kalielle]

Are you sure about this?

Yes, I'm pretty sure a locked VL game leads to locked caves. At least that's what happened to our group the past 2 days when we farmed caves non-stop.

I know I personally don't like having to stay in-game for hours with no way to leave without losing your place in the 6-level map.

So glad I'm not the only one who feels this way!

An easy solution would be to - dare I say it - just let us host the maps? A random rare portal made sense when the loot was all pinks. Now that the drops are rare, what if we just skipped the whole portal thing? It would certainly solve all the leeching/missing host/no way to save progress/etc problems.

I'm really excited about the new content, and I just wish we'd be able to play it without all this hassle, and play only a little at a time if that's all our schedule allows - which is what I love about PL in the first place.